Defective hot water faucets are known to unecessarily leak and dribble a lot of hot water and as a result, cause a big waste of energy which is used for heating the water. While it might be reasonable to presume that a leaking spigot can be readily repaired, reality dictates that many small-appearing faucet leaks are simply ignored or overlooked for long periods of time. Neglect occurs for several reasons. Inconvenience involving the difficulty and expense for obtaining a reliable repair person is one. Another is that the amount of hot water which drip away as waste is not apparent and the magnitude of the wasteful cost for heating the dribbling hot water is not appreciated, although it might easily amount to over ten dollars a month for each leaking tap. Additionally, in rented accomodations, no particular concern is felt by a tenant that a considerable amount of hot water is being wasted, particularly if a landlord is paying for heating the water. In effect it becomes "someone elses problem" and nothing is done to effect a repair of a leaky tap valve, especially in view that the landlord has no way of realizing or readily becoming aware of the fact that a spigot may be defective and wasting energy. Lastly, there is a sense of helplessness accompanied by annoyance in that frequently even if a faucet is repaired or replaced, usually at considerable expense, the drip or trickle may soon return and the owner is faced with yet another repair bill and no assurance of a lasting fix.
A defective, leaking faucet may take many forms. While it is obvious that an old, obsolete tap design may invite leakage merely due to deterioration or inefficient design, it is not only these "older" taps which pose a leakage problem. Relatively new or replacement faucets may also exhibit leakage due to seat corrosion or rubber washer failure, each of which are in principle easy to repair, but which in practice require a level of skill and knowledge which might overreach that of the owner or tenant thereby necessitating the hiring of a plumber or repair person, usually at substantial expense. So called "leakproof" or "washerless" valve designs may incur unexpected leakage due to the seal surfaces becoming scored, perhaps from sand and grit in the water supply itself. Even "brand new" (e.g., newly installed or newly repaired) faucets which include my invention may exhibit premature leakage due to seal damage or early rubber washer failure, particularly due to the deteriorative stress and accelerated oxidation produced by the hot water. Some ordinary hot water tap designs also merely exhibit a propensity for being difficult to fully turn-off (e.g., excess stiffness or tightness of stem seals, etc.) and as a result, they are often left slightly-on permitting a persistent trickle and hot water waste. This latter cause for leakage is particularly problematic when the hot water tap is routinely operated by small children or elderly persons, either of which may have less hand strength than what it takes to "tightly" turn the offending spigot fully "off". Such an otherwise nondefective spigot may quickly account for the waste of hundreds of gallons of heated water every month.
I have observed many of these kinds of wasteful circumstances over a period of time. I have discovered the problem to be most troublesome with ordinary hot water taps, most likely due to the deteriorating effect of hot water upon rubber (or plastic) washers and brass seats commonly used in the construction of these ordinary types of tap valves. I have envisioned that, if it were possible to divert cold water through the leaking spigot instead of hot water, then the leak itself would at least not waste energy used for heating the water. What this says is that while defective faucets which include my invention may not necessarily be promptly repaired, at least the energy loss and cost impact of the leak can be minimized. As a result, the cost of water heating fuel wasted by an unavoidably leaking faucet may be truly minimized.